There is no reason for Microsoft to abandon Vista. No matter what Vista is or does, no matter what its faults or deficiencies are, Windows customers will buy it (whether a new license or pre-installed on a new system), and will run it, eventually.

They should EOL Windows XP, if they want to increase Vista revenues. Before Microsoft ever releases an OS, people take to the internet and adopt this resistant pose like they're not going to "fall for it again," and are going to stick with what they have. The overwhelming majority of this crowd never do.

Whether or not they get it for free on a new computer or pay to upgrade because some new game won't work with the previous OS, eventually, Windows users *will* run it. Three years from now, anyone who insists on running Windows, will be running Vista. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop this. Everyone bitches about DRM, but only a statistically insignificant number vote with their wallet in protest.

There's basically nothing Microsoft can do to alienate its userbase sufficiently to try something new. (And yes, there is probably a disproportionate number of us here for whom this is not true, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that this doesn't represent the situation at large)

This is not a troll, nor is it sarcastic. It is reality. While Microsoft is not technically a monopoly, for all practical purposes it serves as one, and that will continue to drive peoples decisions.

In point of fact, Microsoft could abandon Windows altogether and revert back to MS-DOS 6.1, and so long as vendors were apt to write drivers for it, and ONLY for IT, in many cases, and so long as gaming and enterprise software companies wrote for it, it would continue to dominate. It is not a moral issue. It is a practical one for the vast majority of computer users.

I think Microsoft is a safe stock buy, for the long term. Consumer discretion, when it comes to operating systems, is irrelevant and non-existent. The market pushes it along as it pushes the market along.

Frankly, what probably did this is IBM and OS/2. When that faded, the game was essentially over. I really wish I could go back in time and get IBM to open up OS/2 so at least there were two players in the market. If you look back to then, there was a lot of enthusiasm for OS/2 - even over Windows - except in the sense of lack of development tools (see the old Computer Chronicles episode on archive.org for more on this) and other proprietary concerns.

It saddens me to say so, as a Linux user and advocate. I really do think Linux is better. I don't have enough experience with Macs to say whether they are "better" too, but I'd probably feel that way if I was.

My feelings are irrelevant. Windows it is. Vista, it will be, no matter how people feel about it now.